The present invention relates generally to a digital imaging device and more particularly to a method and apparatus for creating and presenting a multimedia presentation comprising heterogeneous media objects in the digital imaging device.
The use of digital cameras is rapidly proliferating and they may one day overtake 35 mm SLRs in terms of worldwide sales. There are basically three types of digital cameras: digital still cameras, digital video cameras, and hybrid digital-video cameras.
Still digital cameras are used primarily for capturing high quality static photographs, and offer a less expensive alternative to digital video cameras. Still digital cameras are typically less expensive because they have far less processing power and memory capacity than digital video cameras.
Digital video cameras differ from digital still cameras in a number of respects. Digital video cameras are used to capture video at approximately thirty frames per second at the expense of image quality. Digital video cameras are more expensive than still cameras because of the extra hardware needed. The uncompressed digital video signals from all the low-resolution images require huge amounts memory storage, and high-ratio real-time compression schemes, such as MPEG, are essential for providing digital video for today""s computers. Until recently, most digital video recorders used digital magnetic tape as the primary storage media, which has the disadvantage of not allowing random access to the data.
Hybrid digital video cameras, also referred to as multimedia recorders, are capable of capturing both still JPEG images and video clips, with or without sound. One such camera, the M2 Multimedia Recorder by Hitachi America, Ltd., Brisbane, Calif., stores the images on a PC card hard disk (PCMCIA Type III), which provides random access to the recorded video data.
All three types of cameras typically include a liquid-crystal display (LCD) or other type of display screen on the back of the camera. Through the use of the LCD, the digital cameras operate in one of two modes, record and play. In record mode, the display is used as a viewfinder in which the user may view an object or scene before taking a picture. In play mode, the display is used as a playback screen for allowing the user to review previously captured images and/or video. The camera may also be connected to a television for displaying the images on a larger screen.
Since digital cameras capture images and sound in digital format, their use for creation of multimedia presentations is ideal. However, despite their capability to record still images, audio, and video, today""s digital cameras require the user to be very technologically proficient in order to create multimedia presentations.
For example, in order to create a multimedia presentation, the user first captures desired images and video with the camera and then downloads the images to a personal computer or notebook computer. There, the user may import the images and video directly into a presentation program, such as Microsoft PowerPoint(trademark). The user may also edit the images and video using any one of a number of image editing software applications. After the PowerPoint presentation has been created, the user must connect the PC or notebook to a projector to display the presentation. Finally, the user typically controls the playback of the presentation using a remote control.
Due to the limitations of today""s digital cameras in terms of capabilities and features, the user is forced to learn how to operate a computer, image editing software, and a presentation program in order to effectively create and display the multimedia presentation. As the use of digital cameras becomes increasingly mainstream, however, the number of novice computer users will increase. Indeed, many users will not even own a computer at all. Therefore, many camera owners will be precluded from taking advantage of the multimedia capabilities provided by digital cameras.
What is needed is an improved method for creating and displaying a multimedia presentation using images and/or video from a digital imaging device. The present invention addresses such a need.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for creating a multimedia presentation from heterogeneous media objects stored in a digital imaging device, wherein each one of the media objects includes one or more media types associated therewith, such as images, video, audio and text. The digital imaging device includes a display screen, a navigation control button, and one or more function keys. In a first aspect of the present invention, a representation of each one of the media objects in the digital imaging device is displayed on the display screen. Thereafter, the user navigates to one of the displayed media objects using the navigation control button and marks the selected media object by pressing a corresponding function key. These steps are repeated to provide an ordered set of marked media objects. A slide show is then presented from the ordered set of marked media objects, whereupon initiation of the slide show presentation, each one of the media objects is automatically displayed on the display in the order marked.
In a second aspect of the present invention, each of the media objects may be edited before or after incorporation into the slideshow, where each media object is edited using specialized media types editors designed to edit the media types associated with that particular media object.
In a third aspect of the present invention, the user may specify properties for slide show so that the objects in the slide show are not displayed linearly, but rather are displayed in an order that is dependent upon user defined events, thus creating an interactive slide show.
The present invention thus enables a novice user to create, edit and present multimedia presentations all from the camera without the need for downloading images and video to a computer and incorporating the images and video into complicated presentation software.